CANBERRA - An alleged Nazi war criminal living in Australia won on Wednesday a long battle against the government's attempts to extradite him to Hungary to stand trial for the murder of a Jewish teenager.

 
Charles Zentai, now 90, was accused by Hungarian authorities of beating to death a Jewish teenager, Peter Balazs, in Budapest in 1944.

 
Australia's highest court ruled that Zentai could not be extradited to the country of his birth because the offence "war crime" did not exist in Hungarian law at the time the murder was alleged to have been committed.

 
Zentai, who migrated to Australia in 1950 and became an Australian citizen, has maintained his innocence throughout his legal challenge.

 
Zentai, a 23-year-old warrant officer in the pro-Nazi Hungarian military at the time of Balazs' death, said he was not in Budapest when the attack took place.

 
A spokesperson for Jason Clare, Australian Minister for Home Affairs, confirmed that Zentai would not be surrendered to Hungary.

 
A retired mental health nurse, Zentai was arrested by Australian police in 2005 after Hungary requested his extradition. Australia ordered in 2009 that Zentai be sent to Hungary, but the Federal Court overturned that ruling in 2011.